The National Performance Network and Visual Artists Network (NPN/VAN) believes artists and arts organizations are essential for creating a just and sustainable world, and we believe communities deserve broad access to art and culture that reflect their own experiences and inform about the experiences of others.

We seek to provide risk-taking performing and visual artists with the resources needed to develop and tour new work, to ensure arts leaders have the skills and opportunities to be change-makers in the arts presenting field, and to influence cultural policy for more just and artist-centered practices.

Our programs focus on:

investing in artists all along the lifecycle of their work and careers – creation and development, touring and exhibition, community engagement, and professional development;

fostering engagement within our network, throughout the arts sector, and with other justice-based fields, for collaboration, learning, and resource-sharing;

investing in leadership development and capacity-building within our network so that individuals have both the skills and the opportunities to make change;

leveraging the power of our network to influence more equitable cultural policy and practices throughout the arts sector.

Through our network of more than 100 arts organizations in the U.S., Latin America, and Asia, we are committed to investing in artists whose voices and visions illuminate and shape the world around us and to those organizations that take risks in showcasing such artists. This intentional network of active and engaged partners fosters deeper collaboration among presenters, greater mobility for artists, and a stronger collective voice for our sector. By focusing on a limited number of partner organizations, NPN/VAN’s support and services are more strategically designed, effectively distributed, and successfully leveraged.

Since its inception, NPN/VAN has reached 3.5 million audience members and supported 4,700 artist projects employing over 21,000 artists. We have provided $26 million in direct support to artists and presenters and leveraged another $44 million, resulting in $70 million in support for artists and arts organizations.

The National Performance Network, including the Visual Artists Network (NPN/VAN), is a group of diverse cultural organizers and artists, working to create meaningful partnerships and to provide leadership that enables the practice and public experience of the arts in the United States.

Patterned after NPN's model performing arts program, the Visual Artists Network was launched in 2007 as a pilot, and in 2009 the program was formally established through the induction of the VAN Partners, fifteen leading contemporary arts organizations from across the United States.

The boundaries between the performing and visual arts are more than blurred: "Performance art" on the stage and "installations" in a gallery. Using the residency model of a touring performing artist, VAN is a way for the visual artist to engage in community.

Patterned after NPN's model performing arts program, the Visual Artists Network was launched in 2007 as a pilot, and in 2009 the program was formally established through the induction of the VAN Partners, fifteen leading contemporary arts organizations from across the United States.

The boundaries between the performing and visual arts are more than blurred: "Performance art" on the stage and "installations" in a gallery. Using the residency model of a touring performing artist, VAN is a way for the visual artist to engage in community.